KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $725.00 Price Target at Citigroup

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $700.00 to $725.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Susquehanna reissued a neutral rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a buy rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $696.58.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC opened at $648.21 on Tuesday. KLA has a 12-month low of $355.88 and a 12-month high of $729.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $684.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $597.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.38 EPS. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB, Display and Component Inspection.